WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has raged in opposition to the 4 Republicans who pressured the Home of Representatives to vote on the Epstein recordsdata, even calling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) a “traitor” for her hassle.
However there’s one Republican who’s accomplished greater than some other to convey new and damaging Jeffrey Epstein materials to mild — Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the Home Oversight Committee.
It was Comer who obtained the “birthday book” made for Epstein in 2003 that contained a creepy tribute apparently from Trump, plus the hundreds of paperwork launched this month, together with the e-mail from Epstein saying Trump “knew about the girls.”
The newest doc dump got here shortly earlier than Congress handed laws to drive the discharge of the Justice Division’s full Epstein recordsdata. Trump’s approval score has fallen to the lowest degree of his second time period, partly on account of the Epstein fallout.
As Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) put it: “James Comer has been doing an extraordinary job for the Democrats.”
It may create a second spherical of Republican grumbling about Comer, a robust Trump ally who obtained some intraparty blame when Home Republicans’ varied efforts to research and impeach President Joe Biden largely fell flat or blew up of their faces. Again then, Comer overpromised on what his proof confirmed, particularly a Ukrainian bribe that turned out to have been fully fabricated. But when Comer’s accomplished something incorrect this time round, it’s that he’s been overly prepared to dig up the reality.
“Because I, as well as my Republican colleagues on the House Oversight Committee, we want to know what really happened, what went on, who was involved in these unspeakable crimes,” Comer mentioned final week in a speech on the Home ground, referring to his resolution to subpoena the Epstein property. “We want justice for the survivors. That’s why we’re doing this investigation.”
Comer has gone past the subpoena {that a} bipartisan vote in his committee over the summer time pressured him to ship to the Justice Division. On his personal initiative, he despatched a wholly separate subpoena to the late sexual predator’s property, which had the birthday guide and a cache of emails.
It’s exhausting to think about a extra embarrassing doc than the 2003 birthday card to Epstein that bears Trump’s signature, which reads “we have certain things in common” and “may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump had denied writing the message — his attorneys even claimed in courtroom it had been “concocted” by The Wall Avenue Journal — and Comer’s disclosure proved it was actual.
Trump’s allies hyped the Epstein recordsdata as the important thing to unraveling the form of elite pedophile ring right-wing conspiracy theorists have raved about for years. As of this month, each Republican in Congress however one formally helps releasing the recordsdata. However Comer has been means forward of them.
AP Picture/Jose Luis Magana
Republicans set excessive expectations for revelations from the Justice Division’s investigatory recordsdata on Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 whereas going through federal intercourse trafficking expenses.
In February, Comer arrange an Oversight Committee “Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets,” chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), devoted to revealing the federal government’s items on the JFK assassination, UFOs and the Epstein recordsdata.
That month, the Justice Division handed binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a bunch of right-wing influencers gathered on the White Home. The stunt backfired; the binders contained no new info, and a few MAGA commentators mentioned the entire thing regarded unprofessional. Luna known as it a “complete disappointment.”
In Might, Luna demanded the Justice Division make its Epstein paperwork public: “We work alongside the DOJ – not for it. AG Bondi needs to stop stonewalling and communicate with us.”
When the Trump administration introduced in July that it wouldn’t launch any new info and that there was no Epstein “client list,” opposite to prior statements made by Trump, Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, the backlash from MAGA-aligned media figures was intense. Democrats exploited the second by pushing for a vote on subpoenaing the Justice Division throughout a subcommittee assembly that month. Comer dutifully despatched the subpoena weeks later.
Republican leaders pointed to the Justice Division’s cooperation with the subpoena as a cause to not vote on separate Epstein laws, however their pushback solely appeared to stiffen the resolve of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ga.), Greene, and the 2 different Republicans who put their names on a “discharge petition” forcing the Home to vote this month.
Privately, some Republicans are apparently sad with the position Comer performed within the Epstein saga.
“No one has betrayed and fractured MAGA more than Chairman Comer and Rep. Luna,” a senior Home aide instructed HuffPost. “Their Epstein ‘investigation’ created virtually every major headache for House Republicans this Congress.”
Comer declined to remark for this text. A spokesman for Luna didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The Oversight Committee has launched 33,000 pages of data from its DOJ subpoena, although a lot was already public. Massie has mentioned he doesn’t belief the fabric coming via the committee, pointing to redactions within the first batch that protected individuals who weren’t victims of intercourse trafficking.
Heather Diehl by way of Getty Photographs
After The Wall Avenue Journal reported on the existence of the Epstein birthday guide in July, Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), members of the Oversight Committee, despatched a letter asking Epstein’s property for a replica of the guide. An lawyer for the property mentioned the property may solely present it in response to a subpoena.
In September, Comer fired off a subpoena not only for the guide, however for a variety of paperwork, emails and checking account statements. The committee quickly obtained and uploaded to its web site one other 30,000 pages of paperwork. Crucially, the Justice Division has had no capability to filter the fabric.
Rep. Pete Classes (R-Texas), one other Oversight Committee member, mentioned Republicans didn’t have a lot selection however to seize regardless of the property was holding. He known as it a simple elevate.
“I think legitimately, we would have been criticized if we had knowledge and did not get it,” Classes instructed HuffPost. “It became what I would say material to the case. It became material. And, you know, unfortunately or whatever happened, it turned into a treasure trove of opportunity for people.”
Garcia, the committee’s prime Democrat, supplied grudging respect to Comer whereas taking partial credit score for his Epstein strikes.
“I think when James Comer and Republicans are pushed to do the right thing, they will sometimes do the right thing. And I respect that, and I want to partner in those spaces,” Garcia mentioned. “But when they choose to deny or deflect or slow down the process, we’re going to call that out.”
The committee remains to be sending out new subpoenas, asking the Treasury Division handy over any “suspicious activity reports” flagging Epstein’s cash transfers, and this month demanded Epstein’s financial institution data from JPMorganChase and Deutsche Financial institution.
For Republicans, there’s a shiny facet: The Epstein paperwork include loads of embarrassing references to high-profile Democrats.
“There was nothing new about the president’s former relationship with Epstein and certainly nothing scandalous,” Comer mentioned in his speech final week. “But we did find two sitting Democrat members of Congress had communications with Epstein.”
The brand new paperwork revealed Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.) had been texting with Epstein throughout a committee listening to in 2019, and that Democratic fundraisers had solicited marketing campaign contributions from Epstein on behalf of Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
Trump, for his half, aggressively lobbied in opposition to the invoice to launch the Justice Division’s Epstein recordsdata, solely to change his place final weekend when it was clear the invoice would cross the Home over his objections. Now that he’s signed it into legislation, it’s as much as the Justice Division to create a searchable Epstein database by mid-December.
The White Home claims Trump has been on the correct facet of the Epstein matter all alongside.
“President Trump has been consistently calling for transparency related to the Epstein files ― by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson mentioned in an e-mail.
Jackson famous Plaskett’s communications with Epstein and mentioned reporters should ask former President Invoice Clinton about his quite a few flights on Epstein’s non-public aircraft.
“The only people who have behaved cynically are the Democrats and the media,” Jackson mentioned.
